Grammy Award Winning Jazz Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater to perform at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on September 9th. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz will present a jazz and blues education program at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on Sept. 9 at 9:30 a.m. The program will feature legendary vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, a multiple GRAMMY Award-winning recording artist and Tony Award recipient for her work on Broadway.
Through lively performances, musical demonstrations and a question and answer session with the student audience, the interactive program will demonstrate how the blues has become a foundation for many types of popular art and entertainment, and how, perhaps more than any other music, it is jazz’s greatest influence.
The Thelonious Monk Institute began its Blues & Jazz initiative in 2007 with major funding from Carolyn Powers, a member of the Dockery family. Powers has been leading the restoration of Dockery Farms, which many consider to be the birthplace of the blues.
The Institute has presented Blues & Jazz education programs for more than 10,000 Mississippi public school students. Through visits to public schools in Cleveland, Jackson, Natchez, Oxford, Rosedale and Ruleville, leading blues and jazz musicians have presented school-wide assembly programs, in addition to jazz band and vocal jazz clinics for advanced high school student musicians. The Institute also offers free, daily in-school and after-school instrument training sessions for Ruleville elementary, middle, and high school students in partnership with Delta State University.
The program is helping to cultivate the next generation of musicians and perpetuate the Mississippi Delta’s blues legacy. Additionally, the Institute’s free online curriculum at www.thebluesandjazz.org traces the history and development of the blues and jazz in America.
To ensure seat reservations for middle and high school students across the Delta, this performance is closed to the public and available for school groups only. Reservations for the program are limited and required to be made in advance. Please contact Whitney Cummins at 662-846-4844 to reserve seats for your school group.
